Hi everyone! My name is Renee. I am 30 years old, happily married and a mother of three. I don't have a very interesting story to tell.. I can't blame my weight gain on an injury or tragedy... I've just been lazy. Very lazy! I've eaten the wrong foods, I've drunk sodas, fancy 400 calorie coffees, and the sweet treat of the southern wiregrass.. Sweet tea (which is mostly sugar). I tend to be an emotional eater and by that I mean.. I eat during every emotion. Happy? Pizza! Sad? Chocolate! Mellow? ...

Hi everyone! My name is Renee. I am 30 years old, happily married and a mother of three. I don't have a very interesting story to tell.. I can't blame my weight gain on an injury or tragedy... I've just been lazy. Very lazy! I've eaten the wrong foods, I've drunk sodas, fancy 400 calorie coffees, and the sweet treat of the southern wiregrass.. Sweet tea (which is mostly sugar). I tend to be an emotional eater and by that I mean.. I eat during every emotion. Happy? Pizza! Sad? Chocolate! Mellow? Donuts!

I don't have an Ah-Ha moment either. A lot of people say a doctor pointed a finger at them or they couldn't fit on a ride anymore like they use to (both of which would have been true for me given the opportunity but I probably wouldn't have cared). I got comfortable being 200+ pounds... I made jokes and accepted it. I knew I could lose the weight if I really wanted (I'd done it before) but I just wasn't wanting it.

Then, I was scrolling through Facebook and checked out Candace Cameron Bure's page. She looks amazing, right? That's DJ Tanner? She never had a problem with her weight in my opinion but she wrote a book about reshaping it all. I haven't read the book yet.. but I will. I remember her on a daily show segment last year talking about turning to the Bible instead of a bag of potato chips.

That's what I needed to do! A light bulb went off and a fog lifted. Here I was craving a pizza and surfing Facebook and all of a sudden I did a 180. Literally! I got up that moment and put my sneakers on and worked out. I did 18 minutes... then I logged back on my Spark People... then I called, wrote and texted just about everyone I knew, to tell them I'm going to lose the weight. I was overwhelmed with encouragement and cheers.

And, here I am... I've been staying in my 1200-1500 calorie range, working out at least 30 minutes a day and drinking 10 cups of water a day. I also made a huge leap into becoming Vegan. I know it's a long road and I might not get to all of my goals till this time next year... but I'm in it for the long haul. I'm DONE with being lazy. I'm DONE with being fatigue all the time. I'm DONE with filling my body with chemicals and processed foods.

*I'm making a new me, one better choice at a time!*

~~Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant. - Robert Louis Stevenson ~~

"When things go wrong as they sometimes will, When the road you're trudging seems all up hill, When the funds are low and the debts are high And you want to smile, but you have to sigh, When care is pressing you down a bit, Rest if you must, but don't you quit. Life is queer with its twists and turns, As every one of us sometimes learns, And many a failure turns about When he might have won had he stuck it out; Don't give up though the pace seems slow-- You may succeed with another blow, Success is failure turned inside out-- The silver tint of the clouds of doubt, And you never can tell how close you are, It may be near when it seems so far; So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit-- It's when things seem worst that you must not quit." ~ Unknown

My Goals:
I'd like to get to about 140 pounds but that's the long term goal.

More importantly than weight though is overall health and nutrition. I know I can lose the weight and look healthy but I want to be healthy! I would like to run marathons and eat to live instead of live to eat. Spark People has been amazing in giving me all the tips I need to do this thing right!

I've been spreading the Spark and made my weight loss known to everyone around me.

I have no shortage of accountability and I made sure of that! ;)

My Program:
I'm a tracker! I'm tracking everything I eat or drink. Aiming for 10 cups of water a day because I can do better than 8. Haha :)

I'm working out daily at least 30 mins and you guessed it.. I'm tracking that too!

Personal Information:
I'm married to my best friend and High School sweetheart, Derek. Just celebrated 12 years of marriage and we have three insanely smart little girls named, Elizabeth, Naomi and Sarah.

(I love being apart of teams here on SP one of the teams I'm apart of is forming a new team for spring soon) Is this something you would be interested in? We track our weight, exercise minutes and do fun challenges).